Category Archives: Labor Issues

by | November 18, 2011 · 6:37 am

Hospitality Industry Guest Safety: Hotel Management Must Have "Guest Privacy" Policies To Protect Names And Room Locations

“…Privacy is key when it comes to safety in a hotel, most importantly at check-in…”

“If the person giving you your key says your name out loud or your room number, you want to be sure to get another key and another room, because anyone lingering in the lobby could overhear that.”

  • Female travelers should “never put down your name. Just put down your initials and never indicate you’re just one person.”

Greg O’Neill, who heads up security at Boston’s Mandarin Oriental, says security measures generally work, when guests use them:

  • … take advantage the in-room safe. You’ll find this in most every hotel
  • …take advantage of the peephole in the door, and be aware of the nearest exit

Here’s another tip: check crime statistics for particular neighborhoods before making a hotel reservation. Most police web sites will have those details.

Security experts also suggest taking your room key out of the little envelope they give you at check-in, because it usually has your room number on it.

For more:  http://www.14news.com/story/16068750/experts-providing-hotel-safety-tips-around-the-holidays

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by | November 14, 2011 · 6:44 am

Hospitality Inudustry Employment Risks: Woman At Florida Staffing Company Convicted Of "Alien Smuggling And Worker Visa Fraud" In Supplying Workers To Hotels

 “…a large temporary labor staffing company based in Orlando, which supplied temporary labor to numerous businesses in the hotel and hospitality industries throughout Florida and the United States…”

“… They also submitted fake hotel contract agreements to conceal their activities and falsely reported that U.S. workers had been hired when they had not…”

A federal jury found a Brazilian woman residing in Orlando guilty of alien smuggling and conspiracy to commit alien smuggling and worker visa fraud on Monday, following an investigation that began with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Rafaela Dutra Toro, 30, faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison. She was indicted on Jan. 26. Her sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled.

 “The individuals involved in this case orchestrated a very large and very complex visa fraud ring. They took jobs away from U.S. citizens and others who are legally allowed to work in this country by knowingly employing people who were not authorized to work in the United States,” said Susan McCormick, special agent in charge of HSI in Tampa. “Through cases like this one, HSI is helping to protect our economy and preserve job opportunities from being lost due to fraud.”

Toro is a citizen of Brazil and will be subject to removal from the United States after serving her sentence. According to evidence presented at trial, Toro worked for VR Services, a large temporary labor staffing company based in Orlando, which supplied temporary labor to numerous businesses in the hotel and hospitality industries throughout Florida and the United States. The scheme allowed Toro and her co-conspirators to set up a permanent foreign labor pool that hired illegal alien workers across the United States in jobs that would normally have been filled by United States citizens. As part of the conspiracy, Toro and her co-conspirators submitted false documentation to the government and manipulated the H-2B foreign worker visa process. They also submitted fake hotel contract agreements to conceal their activities and falsely reported that U.S. workers had been hired when they had not.

For more:  http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=443603&CategoryId=14090

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by | November 13, 2011 · 8:49 am

Hospitality Inudustry Employement Risks: California Hotel Chain Settles Discrimination Lawsuit With U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Over Firing Employee With Autism

“…The EEOC’s suit accused the companies of failing to make a reasonable accommodation for the clerk’s disability, discrimination and wrongful termination...”

According to the terms of the settlement, the former clerk will receive $125,000, while San Diego-based Partnership with Industry—the non-profit employment support organization that sent the job coach—will receive $7,500.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has settled its discrimination lawsuit against a California-based hotel chain for allegedly firing a front desk clerk with autism, the agency announced on Monday.

The hotel chain, Comfort Suites and its parent company, Newport Beach, Calif.-based Tarsadia Hotels, have agreed to pay $132,500 and make several changes to its employment practices and operations, the EEOC said in a statement.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, filed in a Los Angeles federal court in September 2010, supervisors at the Comfort Suites Mission Valley Hotel in San Diego denied a former front desk clerk diagnosed with autism access to a job coach that “would have helped the clerk learn to master his job by using autism-specific training techniques,” as well as made repeated disparaging remarks about his condition.

After refusing on several occasions to allow the job coach into the hotel, the supervisors allegedly accused the clerk of mishandling a hotel guest’s packages and fired him.

For more:  http://www.businessinsurance.com/article/20111108/NEWS05/111109871?tags=%7C338%7C309%7C75%7C305%7C339%7C303

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by | November 12, 2011 · 4:06 pm

Hospitality Industry Employee Risks: New York Hotel Sued By Black Employee For Discrimination After "Racist Stunt"

“…A black midtown hotel cook says two co-workers inside of a year have dressed like the Ku Klux Klan and harassed him…(serving) the hotel and three employees with a $35 million discrimination lawsuit over an alleged racist stunt on Oct. 28, 2010…”

In an amended complaint, Jones says painter Ramon Pagan confronted him in the hotel basement wearing a “pure white cone-shaped article on his head.” Pagan said, “Hey, look at me. I am the Ku Klux Klan,” while a hotel manager witnessed the bizarre exchange, according to court papers filed in Manhattan Federal Court.

“[Pagan] laughed in my face and enjoyed what he was doing. And there was a manager right there looking at him and didn’t say a word.” “It was not a painter’s mask he was wearing, it was perfectly shaped like a cone,” he added.

Jones immediately reported what happened to hotel brass who reviewed a surveillance video which captured the scene. Phoebe Knowles, a vice president for the Roger Smith Hotel, said Friday that management acted decisively and canned Pagan. “The employee no longer works here,” Knowles said.

“We have a strict policy against any type of harassing actions, and we respond expeditiously when it comes to our attention.”

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/black-midtown-hotel-cook-co-workers-dressed-ku-klux-klans-harassed-article-1.976420#ixzz1dXRLEHn1

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by | November 10, 2011 · 6:44 am

Hospitality Industry Internet Risks: Connecticut Hotel Employees Assist Authorities In Arrest And Conviction Of Man For "Child Pornography" While Using Hotel Internet

Employees at the Marriott Hotel in Hartford, Conn., took action over the summer when they spotted a man trying to access a pornographic website in their hotel, the Hartford Courant reports.

They banned the man from the hotel, and then alerted authorities, leading to an investigation by agencies including the Hartford Police, FBI and the Connecticut Computer Crimes Task Force.

That investigation on Tuesday led to a guilty plea from the suspect who had been using Internet services almost daily at a variety of places including the hotel’s Starbucks Café and the nearby library, the article says.

He had previously been convicted of attempted child molestation, according to the FBI.

William Scott Van Wyk, 35, pleaded guilty in Hartford before U.S. District Judge Christopher Droney to a child pornography charge and one count of using the Internet to try to persuade a minor to engage in sexual activity, the story says.

He faces at least 15 years in prison, although he may receive a longer sentence due to his record.

For more:  http://travel.usatoday.com/hotels/post/2011/11/hotel-takes-action-when-man-spotted-child-porn-guilty-plea/562998/1?csp=34travel&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+UsatodaycomTravel-TopStories+%28Travel+-+Top+Stories%29

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by | November 9, 2011 · 6:46 am

Hospitality Industry Security Risks: Las Vegas Hotel Housekeeper "Sexually Assaulted" In Hotel Room; Security And Surveillance Measures Had Been Cut And Scaled Back In Recent Years

“…In the 1990s and early 2000s, the hotel used to provide for a security guard at the employee parking lot. That position has been cut, the co-worker said…”

“…The number of security guards assigned to walk guest floors to monitor safety also has been scaled back over the years, said the employee, who suggested there should be at least one security guard at guest elevators to check identifications…”

A Las Vegas man accused of beating and raping a 65-year-old Strip hotel maid last week kept clothing in his home that may have been bloodied in the attack, police said.

According to his Las Vegas police arrest report, David Randell Ferren, 19, kept a bloody jacket, belt and condoms that may have been worn during the assault of a Bally’s hotel maid on the morning of Nov. 1.

The report alleges Ferren punched the maid in the face as she was entering a room on the 59th floor of Bally’s about 9:30 a.m. Security footage showed Ferren exiting an elevator on that floor shortly before the attack, police said.

In the arrest report, police said Ferren forced the maid into the room and raped her. The assault was interrupted after the occupant of the room entered. That woman told detectives she saw a naked man getting dressed as the maid fled the room, the report said.

Another maid saw the man using an emergency exit , the report said.

For more:  http://www.lvrj.com/news/suspect-in-strip-rape-kept-bloody-clothing-police-say-133403473.html

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by | November 7, 2011 · 6:46 am

Hospitality Industry Security Risks: California Hotel Front Desk Clerk Subdues Armed Robber With Help From Guests (Video)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRxmLBNgSiM&feature=player_embedded]

An armed robber got more than he bargained for after being tackled by two cage fighters who just happened to be staying at the hotel he was trying to hold-up. Gun-toting Luis Rosales definitely made the wrong move when he walked into the Comfort Inn hotel in LA’s Koreatown, pointed a gun at the clerk and demanded he fill a bag full of cash.

After handing over money from the till, the clerk noticed Rosales place the weapon in the bag along with the cash. He followed him out of the office, grabbed him from behind and screamed for help.

As Rosales, 31, struggled to break free the two fighters leapt into action with Denney grabbing the robber in a hold while Alvarez seized the gun. They then put him on the ground with a leg sweep and held him until police arrived.

Denney, 28, told the LA Times: ‘The manager eye-balled us and immediately started running after this guy saying “He’s got a gun, he’s got a gun, he’s got a gun, he just robbed me”.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2058483/Luis-Rosales-Armed-hotel-robber-meets-match-2-cage-fighters-video.html#ixzz1d1uJi0nU

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by | November 5, 2011 · 5:20 am

Hospitality Industry Information Security: New York Hotel Employee Charged With "Stealing 237 Guest Credit Card Accounts" Totaling Over $800,000 In Fraudulent Purchases

“…A New York City hotel chain auditor has been charged with stealing hundreds of guests’ credit card information and selling it to a man accused of using it to buy $840,000 worth of airline tickets and other items…”

Lukasz Kruk and Barry Herndon pleaded not guilty to grand larceny, identity theft and other charges Friday. The Manhattan district attorney’s office says 237 accounts were compromised over three years.

Prosecutors say Kruk was an auditor for the Amsterdam Hospitality Group and had access to guests’ credit card data. They say Herndon bought tickets for himself and other people with information Kruk took.

Amsterdam Hospitality Group runs eight boutique hotels in New York City, Asbury Park, N.J., and Charlotte, N.C. Its representatives haven’t responded to a request for comment.

For more:  http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9QQ75581.htm

 

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by | November 1, 2011 · 4:53 am

Hospitality Industry Employee Risks: Hotel Management Company Files Suit Against Two Former Employees And Employer Claiming "Theft Of Confidential Documents"

 “…Hersha Hospitality Management LP has filed suit against two former employees and their new employer, claiming the former employees allegedly could have stole thousands of confidential documents before leaving to take their new jobs…”

 In a 17 October filing in U.S. District Court, Hersha said the employees engaged in a “web of deception” in their final days at Hersha before leaving for positions at The Procaccianti Group, a private real-estate investment company. Before leaving, Hersha said in the filing, the two recruited two other key Hersha employees to also leave. The two denied recruiting the other executives, Hersha said in the filing.

By way of a computer forensic examination, Hersha also found the two former employees potentially stole “thousands” of sensitive computer files. “(Hersha) is now faced with the real possibility that its direct competitor, TPG, could have access to its most important competitive secrets and strategies,” Hersha officials wrote in the filing. “Upon information and belief, TPG encouraged this conduct by offering the former (Hersha) employees substantial raises in a blatant effort to harm (Hersha) by raiding its top managers and by inducing them to commit wrongs.”

 

A call to TPG president and CEO James A. Procaccianti was returned by the company’s director of communications Ralph Izzi, who said it is TPG’s policy to not comment on pending litigation. A Message left by HotelNewsNow.com with Hersha president and CEO Naveen P. Kakarla was not returned by deadline Friday.

 

For more:  http://www.hospitalitynet.org/external/4053560.html

 

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by | October 31, 2011 · 5:38 am

Hospitality Industry Guest Satisfaction: "Respectful Treatment" By Hotel Employees Tops Is Top Concern Of Business Travellers

“…74% of executives say hotel workers need to treat them with respect if they want to keep their business…according to a survey released last week…”

What comes through loud and clear is that an executive traveler isn’t asking for high-priced service as much as high touch,” said Shawn Abaspor, chief executive of Vitesse Worldwide.

One of the world’s largest hotel companies is now letting guests post reviews on its hotel websites — even guests who aren’t happy with their stay. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, whose hotel brands include Sheraton, Westin and St. Regis, recently unveiled a new feature to let guests write reviews that will appear on the hotel website. And the hotel company has encouraged guests to be honest.

Online hotel review sites are plentiful. But until now, hotels themselves rarely — if ever — post reviews by guests, said Kathryn Potter, a spokeswoman for the American Hotel & Lodging Assn., the trade group for the nation’s hotel owners.

“This is the first I’ve ever heard of a hotel posting reviews on their own site,” she said.

Only guests who type in their reservation confirmation number can submit reviews, and Starwood officials promise not to block negative reviews.

On the website for the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort in Dana Point, most of the reviews are positive. But one mentions a problem with service. “When we first arrived, we waited five minutes for someone from valet to take care of us,” wrote a guest from North Carolina.

For more:  http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-travel-briefcase-20111031,0,6754845.story

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